MILWAUKEE (AP) - With his shooting touch off, Dwyane Wade turned to his defense to make a difference.

Wade scored 21 points and had a career-high seven steals, and Todd Townsend made four 3-pointers in the opening nine minutes as No. 20 Marquette beat DePaul 72-51.

Sparked by Wade's steals, the Golden Eagles (13-3, 5-1 Conference USA) pulled away early in beating DePaul (10-6, 2-3) for the fifth straight time. After trailing 3-2 in the opening minutes, Marquette led the rest of the way.

We didn't let up as the game went along. I thought our defense was stifling at times.

Early on, Wade didn't mind letting Townsend take the shots for Marquette. Townsend hit his first four shots, which accounted for all 12 of his points, to help the Golden Eagles build an insurmountable 32-14 lead.

"He was really feeling it and was the only one scoring for awhile," Wade said. "I wanted him to shoot more."

Townsend, whose 3-pointers were the most by a Marquette player this season, certainly caught the attention of Leitao.

"On two of those four (3-pointers) we had guys inside his shirt," Leitao said. "That certainly played a big role in them getting out to a big lead."

Sam Hoskin had 11 points for the Blue Demons, who trailed 32-18 at halftime.

After scoring the first basket of the second half, the Blue Demons were outscored 10-2 to fall behind 42-22. They were unable to make a big comeback against Marquette's zone defense, virtually trading baskets for most of the final 15 minutes.

DePaul was within 60-46 with four minutes to play after a three-point play by Marlon Brooks and a 3-pointer by Quemont Greer. But the Golden Eagles wrapped it up with 10 free throws and a 3-pointer by Steve Novak down the stretch.

With the score 67-40 and 1:44 to play, Wade was fouled by Greer on a breakaway dunk attempt. Wade crashed to the floor on the intentional foul, Greer's fifth. Wade made one of two free throws, then sat out the rest of the game. He wasn't injured.

"It's cool," Wade said. "I'm OK."

DePaul shot 30 percent (6-for-20) in the first half and improved to 44 percent (20-for-46) by going inside in the second half. Marquette shot 46 percent (18-for-39) and won easily despite being outrebounded 30-20.

The Blue Demons also hurt themselves with 19 turnovers. Marquette had only nine.

"We didn't let up as the game went along," Marquette coach Tom Crean said. "I thought our defense was stifling at times. We've been improving steadily and our team understands it has to in order to be successful."